BALTIMORE, Md. — The Towson University women's lacrosse team is back in action for a midweek contest at No. 9 Loyola on Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. The Greyhounds are the first of six ranked opponents currently on the Tigers' schedule.
Loyola owns the 35-13 all-time between the two teams. However, the Black & Gold came out on top in the last meeting, defeating the then-No. 8 Greyhounds, 13-7 on Feb. 24.
Last Time Out
The Tigers fell to Mount St. Mary's in its season opener on Feb. 12, 14-11.
Five Tigers found the back of the net as freshman Halley Koras led the group with a career-best four goals in her first collegiate game. Kaitlin and Kerri Thornton added two goals apiece in addition to Blair Pearre who added two free position goals.
Rookie Milana Zizakovic also made an immediate impact as she secured six draw controls, two assists and one ground ball.
Schedule Strength
The Tigers have a tough schedule in front of them this spring, as they are set to play six teams currently ranked in the ILWomen/IWLCA poll. Towson will go up against No. 9 Loyola (Feb. 23), No. 10 Michigan (Feb. 27), No. 15 Drexel (April 9), No. 18 James Madison (March 30), No. 22 Vanderbilt (March 23) and No. 24 Johns Hopkins (April 6).
The Black & Gold will face the No. 9 Greyhounds and No. 10 Wolverines in back-to-back contests, to mark the only time on their current schedule they will face ranked opponents in consecutive games.
Freshman Strength
Freshmen Halley Koras and Milana Zizakovic cracked the Tigers' starting lineup in the 2022 season opener against Mount St. Mary's as freshmen.
Both made an immediate impact as Koras led the team with four goals and four points and Zizakovic paced the Black & Gold with two assists and six draw controls.
Preseason Praise
In late January, the CAA announced Rayna Deltuva and Blair Pearre both received Preseason All-CAA honors while Olivia Malamphy earned honorable mention recognition.
The All-CAA Preseason nod marks the second of Pearre's career while the honor is the first for Deltuva and Malamphy.
In the order of finish, the Tigers were voted to end the season in third place with 26 points. James Madison was picked to finish first in the league with five first place votes and 35 total points. Drexel was slotted to end in second, with two first place votes and 32 points. Rounding out the poll was Hofstra (21), Elon (15), Delaware (10) and William & Mary (8).
The All-CAA teams and order of finish was voted on by the conference's head coaches.
Tewaaraton Award Watch List
Blair Pearre has been named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List for the second consecutive season. The Tewaaraton Foundation made the announcement on Feb. 10.
Since 2001, the Tewaaraton Award has been awarded to the most outstanding American college lacrosse men's and women's players across all three divisions of NCAA lacrosse. The watch list highlights 51 early contenders for the 2021 Tewaaraton Award. Additions to the list will be announced on March 11 and April 1, before the field will be narrowed to 25 men's and 25 women's nominees on April 21. Five men's and five women's finalists will be announced in early May and the Tewaaraton Award recipients will be chosen after the conclusion of the collegiate lacrosse season.
127 & Counting
Head coach Sonia LaMonica picked up her 125th win against George Mason last season (April 4). She ended 2021 with 127 career wins and currently stands with a 119-77 record at Towson.
In the previous 11 seasons with Sonia LaMonica at the helm, the Tigers have earned spots in the NCAA Tournament seven times, most recently last season. Towson has won seven Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament titles since 2005, including four under LaMonica.
Returning Starters
12 of 18 Tigers that started at least one game for the black & gold in the 2021 spring will be returning to the field in 2022.
Towson is retuning plenty of veteran leadership on defense as Rayna Deltuva, Olivia Malamphy and Erin Williams are the only current Tigers that started all 18 games for the team last season.
Oh Captain My Captain!
Rayna Deltuva and Kaitlin Thornton were chosen by the coaching staff to lead the Tigers for the upcoming campaign. The two lone graduate students on the roster also served as captains during the 2021 season as well.
Thornton currently ranks 17th on the all-time goals list with 96. With four more scores she will become the 15th Tiger to score at least 100 goals in program history.
Fresh Faces
Sonia LaMonica added a group of six freshmen to the team prior to the spring who will look to make an immediate impact. Shannon Sullivan (Midfield), Milana Zizakovic (Midfield), Mia Rehkemper (Attack), Katie McCormick (Midfield), Emily King (Midfield) and Halley Koras (Attack) will don the black & gold for the first time this season.
Transferring In
The coaching staff also added one transfer, Lindsay Clarke (Attack), from Oregon. During her freshman year on the west coast, Clarke amassed six goals and six assists for a total of 12 points in 11 games played.
Staying Local
Of the 32-woman roster, a whopping 18 student-athletes call Maryland home. Rayna Deltuva (Manchester), Molly Lynch (Forest Hill), Sara Tyssowski (Finksburg), Paiton and Paige Abbott (Mount Airy), Mia Rehkemper (Catonsville), Jenna DiPeso (Forest Hill), Lindsay Clarke (Parkton), Blair Pearre (Pikesville), Blair Goodrich (Chester), Carly Merlo (Reisterstown), Emily King (Monrovia), Lindsay Posner (Monkton), Lindsey Marshall (Columbia), Halley Koras (Lutherville), Sarah Rhoads (Westminster), Olivia Malamphy (Crofton) and Erin Williams (Parkton) all represent their home state.
Oh, Canada
Two Tigers join the team from our neighbors to the north, Canada as well, in senior Julia Porter and freshman Milana Zizakovic who both hail from the province of Alberta.
Sister Sister
The 2021 squad features three sets of sisters, including two sets of twins. Seniors Kerri and Nicole Liucci as well as sophomores Paiton and Paige Abbott are twins while sisters Kaitlin and Kerri Thornton round out the group.
Scouting The Greyhounds
Loyola opened the 2022 season at No. 10 in the ILWomen/IWLCA Division I Poll before moving up one spot with a 14-5 win over then-No. 21 Johns Hopkins on Feb. 19.
The Greyhounds returned one of the top attackers in the country, Livy Rosenzweig, for a fifth year. She led the team in their opener against Hopkins with four goals and two assists for six points. Jillian Wilson also brought in a game-high 11 draw controls while picking up two grounds balls.
Looking Ahead
The Tigers will finish out the month of February against No. 10 Michigan, as they return to Tiger Field on Feb. 27 for a 1 p.m. contest.
Tigers in the Community
For the 7th consecutive year, the department exceeded 10,000 hours of community service to the Greater Baltimore region, finishing with 11,162 hours of community service in the 2018-19 academic season. Towson ranked #1 nationally for community service and won the 2018 National Championship for Community Service through the Helper Helper NCAA Team Works Competition. Towson had a 97% participation rate, attended 118 community service opportunities and volunteered with 19 organizations. The Tigers won the 2018 Volunteer of the Year Award from Susan G. Komen of Maryland.
